Atlanta Ga 4/29/11

http://www.thewrightsmusic.com/ This is supposed to be the opener.

Here’s an article / interview from today’s Atlanta Journal & Constitution as a preview for tonight’s show…

Tom

Great, great show last night. Blake continues to impress & amaze me with his skills on guitar (for example, he can make his slide guitar sound a lot like a pedal steel). Very nice venue, excellent acoustics, and a very receptive, excited crowd. Lu mentioned from the stage & afterwards how much she loves playing in Atlanta. Made this Georgia Boy proud… 8)

I do believe West Words will be on later with the set list. I have to run out this morning & will be out of “Internet range” all day, so I will limit my comments to those above & defer to West Words and stoger to flesh out the details. Stoger’s will be late in coming as well, as he is leaving our guest room early for a drive to Nashville for a date w/ Anne McCue at the Bluebird Cafe… 😉

Tom

I have been a Lucinda fan for some time, but alas the ATL show was my first.I am still in awe of her this morning.The show was outstanding! The band is tight! The venue was perfect. I originally bought tickets because of the availability and cost-all seats were the same! I had the best seats-up close! Does she have anything to say about the price of tickets? Also I joined up to check for set lists. Does anyone have a set list for ATL

Atlanta – Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre – April 29, 2011

Double-checking to make sure I had the correct ticket for this show, I noticed the ticket indicated this performance was put on by “Windstorm Productions” – very appropriate considering the severe weather in the South this past week.

Some of us had concerns that this venue might be too swanky and that the well-heeled audience might be too hoity-toity to constitute a good and enthusiastic crowd. I am more than happy to report that we were wr-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-ong. The acoustics were perfect, the crowd was appreciative, and Lucinda and the boys were spot on and having fun, and the audience was obviously wowed by Blake – the kid is generating a LOT of buzz!

Lu took the stage at 9:08pm, saying “It’s great to be back in this part of the country again, the part of the country where I grew up”.

1) Buttercup – crowed roared its welcome

2) Car Wheels On A Gravel Road – “This song is about growing up in the South, which I’m sure you can identify with.”

3) People Talkin’

4) World Without Tears

5) Bus To Baton Rouge – “This is a song I wrote about imagining going back and visiting my grandmother’s house in Baton Rouge, my grandmother on my mother’s side… Not all of the memories are good – as most people’s aren’t.” One of my favorites, what a treat it was to hear this song performed so beautifully.

6) Crescent City – “Another Louisiana song, in honor of the Jazz Festival.”

7) Drunken Angel – “This is a song I wrote about a Texas songwriter named Blaze Foley, about a story that happened. Blaze was a big follower of Townes Van Zandt, and Blaze tried to keep up with Townes, which no one could do. If you know about Towne’s history, you know about Blaze’s history.”

8. Lake Charles – “We’re gonna break it down a little bit, another song about Louisiana, about a guy named Clyde from Nacogdoches, and he really did have a yellow El Camino.” (solo acoustic)

9) Ugly Truth – Lu & Blake duet. Tour debut of this song.

10) Everything Has Changed – Another tour debut.

11) Blue

12) Born To Be Loved

13) Steal Your Love – lots of hooting and hollering in appreciation for this one, as well as a standing ovation. The new version, and Blake’s guitar work, are really drawing attention to this re-worked old favorite.

14) Blessed – another standing ovation.

15) Convince Me – yet another standing ovation!

16) Essence – ditto. Lu apologized for dropping some f-bombs.

17) Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings – another standing ovation – awesome audience!

18) Righteously – another standing ovation. “We’ve got a few more songs for you, if you’ll hang around for them.”

19) Changed The Locks – “I’d like to thank the …. uhhhh (trying to recall name) … Shannon Wright or the Wrights – they’re standing right here. We’re trying, as we’re going through towns, to have local artists open for us, and Atlanta sure has a lot of them.”

20) Honey Bee

Encore:

21) Hard Time Killing Floor Blues – “This is a Skip James’ song written during the Depression era, and unfortunately it’s very relevant for today. We’ve come full circle.”

22) Joy – Special guest, Rick Richards from the Georgia Satellites, joined in, playing Lu’s electric guitar on this one. “You’re watching history here.” Coincidentally and unbeknownst to us at the time, Stoger and I were standing behind Rick in the refreshments line between acts. He caught my eye because of his Slash-like hair and cool clothes, and I backed up to try and peek under his hair to see if I recognized him. Imagine our surprise to see him on stage two hours later. 🙂

23) For What It’s Worth – “This is an old Buffalo Springfield song.” Rick Richards stayed on stage, and the Wrights also joined in on this one. Great rendition, probably the entire audience was on its feet, and the perfect way to close out a great night. The usual profound goodbye of “Love, Peace, and Revolution”.

For me, this was probably my third favorite show, behind the inimitable no curfew, never-ending World Without Tears tour closer at the Ram’s Head in Baltimore, and the Orange Peel in Asheville last month. Great performance and great energy! I suspect the gang will be back in Atlanta sooner than later. 😉

I hope Lu is okay with this, but I thought everyone would like to see some video I shot in Atlanta. Here is the 25 minutes worth I was able to get. Absolutely fantastic show!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-0iGIAyWIg

It was a pleasure meeting you and your family, DJ. I am so glad you made the long drive to the show. 🙂

http://www.deadjournalist.com/DJdc/2011/05/01/live-review-lucinda-williams/

Live Review: Lucinda Williams
April 29, 2011, Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, Atlanta
by Eric Wildes

I’m an in-town, Decatur guy. And though I love a wide range of music genres, most country from the last 30 years is not part of rotation. So when I decided to cover an artist of which I am a fan – the Lucinda Williams show out at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center – I didn’t really know what to expect in many ways.

First, the venue is pretty much what you’d expect from a large, corporate venue including free illegal parking at a nearby shopping center. After some challenges getting inside, I settled in amongst the crowd of mostly older couples. Invisible clouds of Chanel No. 5 and remnants expensive yet legal cigars were powerful reminders that Atlanta crowds are as diverse as the city itself.

As the lights dimmed on stage, all the extraneous minutiae faded into the background and Lucinda Williams and her band came out to hearty applause.

If you aren’t familiar with Williams, you don’t know what a powerful, yet controlled voice she possesses. If you haven’t seen her live, you don’t know how remarkably poignant her songs can be when experienced in a raw setting. She didn’t waste time with softening up the crowd with banter.

Moments after coming out, she launched into some of her most popular works such as “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”, “Bus to Baton Rouge” and “Drunken Angel”. Between each song, she briefly delivered several matter-of-fact anecdotes about the song’s meaning or inspiration. She said this such as, “This one has a lot of imagery” or “this one is about another beautiful loser”.

Each explanation apparently delighted many of the vociferous fans in back of the venue and they raised a adulating ruckus in response. After continuing with several personal favorites such as “Blue” and “Lake Charles” she slipped in some well-received new material.

Lucinda Williams’ performance was very much about guts over artifice. Every detail was boiled down to base model to emphasize this point. The guitar player mimicking familiar pedal steel lines, and accordion runs, the bass player switched freely from standup bass to electric. She just swayed a bit and let her voice and lyrics become the centerpiece to a magnificent display.

Editor’s Note: Eric Wildes is a contributor to DeadJournalist.com. A writer, musician and teacher, you can follow him on Twitter: @Elvis_Skinner.